Daring with Romance
by The Nameless Flower
Summary: Love comes at a high price. Digging themselves a hole by playing a dare game, the only way out for Hotaru and Mikan is to either confess their love, or forfeit and turn up to school naked the next day. Believe me, love has never been so complicated.
1. Prologue

Yo, no time, no see. Sorry guys for my long disappearance but I couldn't help it.

I'll be here for a few days and then I will disappear again.

Prologue: Daring with Romance 

She slowly lifted the cup from its saucer and took a small sip of tea in a graceful manner. She looked at her best friend, who sat across her, stirring her cup of tea with a teaspoon, and then proceeded to take a sip in an elegant manner.

She slowly heaved a sigh, "Mikan, why can't you just tell Natsume that you love him."

Mikan choked on her tea. She slammed down the cup on the table and pounded on her heart to stop herself from choking. After some heavy breathing she gasped out, "What are you talking about Hotaru, I don't love him."

"Say what you like Mikan, but both you and I know what your real feelings are." At this she saw the faint blush that crept on her best friend's cheek.

Out of desperation she tried to find a way to remove this embarrassment and the only way was…to embarrass the other.

"What about you, Hotaru?" A sinister smirk crept on her lips.

Hotaru proceeded to drink her tea, "What about me?"

"Let me rephrase that…what about you and _Ruka?" _

Hotaru spat out the tea back into the cup.

Mikan burst out in laughter, "Embarrassing you was way easier than I thought it would be."

A vein popped onto Hotaru's head but she remembered the purpose of this argument in the first place. She has long acknowledged the infamous Natsume Hyuuga's feelings towards her best friend and not long after, she also realized that Mikan has felt the same way. So why can't they just hurry up with it!

"Mikan—"

"You know maybe Ruka feels the same way towards you…" A knowing smirk patronized Hotaru, "You won't know until you try…or maybe you don't _dare to_?" Mikan added intimidatedly.

Hotaru directed her cold gaze towards Mikan, "Hypocrite."

"I am not a hypocrite!"

"Then I _dare _you."

"Dare me?"

"I shall provide you with a dare everyday until you have finally decided to confess."

"Fine, but you are in this as well."

"Whatever. This is just made for your cowardice anyway."

"ARGH…HOTARU…fine, we'll play by your game but whoever forfeit on a dare will have to go to school NAKED the next day. Deal?" Mikan stressed her anger when she banged her hand on the table.

"Deal."

And the spent the remaining of their teatime having a glaring contests at each other.


	2. Demonic Children

**Daring with Romance**

**Summary: **

**Love comes at a high price. Digging themselves a hole by playing a dare game, the only way out for Hotaru and Mikan is to either confess their love, or forfeit and turn up to school naked the next day. Believe me, love has never been so complicated. **

Mikan & co: 16 years old now.

School is pretty busy at the moment so there is quite a large chance that I won't update again until roundabout summer.

Album currently listening to: **_Eyes Open – Snow Patrol_**

Disclaimer: I would be rich by now…I think.

This is a late Christmas present for you all, or you can count it as a New Year's present I guess.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter 1: Demonic Children**

**BANG!** The door banged threatening to come off its hinge, in came a thoroughly flushed brunette and her annoyed looking best friend.

**SLAM! **Their books and bags ended up as the victims of their fury, they were thrown roughly on the table, the contact made a loud noise causing a few of their classmates to wince and take a few steps back in fear of the frightening aura that the two girls were emitting.

They both sat in their seat and gazed at each other with pure anger. The tension and sparks between them made their classmates to feel rather uncomfortable, however a certain few looked on with amusement.

"**Morning Imai, Sakura." **Ruka waved at them from the back, smiling ever so sweetly, oblivious to the tension the two are causing.

As if on cue the two girls both snapped their heads 180 degrees backwards to his direction and he ended up being the one under the other end of their wrath. He started sweating profusely, **"Er…um…sorry?"**

Natsume took a little peep from under his manga; "_I wonder what's wrong with polka dots?" _He looked at his best friend who still has cold sweat on his forehead and smirked, _"Better not ask." _After all, he didn't want to fall to the same predicament as his best friend.

The two carried on glaring despite the fact that their teacher is already in the room and all of the class has stood up to welcome him, except for the two…

"**Sakura, Imai."**

"**WHAT!"** the two bellowed out and under their intense gaze the substitute teacher squirmed, cowered into the corner and started weeping.

"**I'm sorry!!!!!!"** The substitute teacher gasped out as waterfalls of tears spilt out from his eyes.

'_Such a wuss.'_

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Narumi glanced around the room. Everyone is at their normal selves except for the two students at the front. One had a scowl on her face; the other started scribbling roughly on her notebook, tearing the pages with the nib in the process, whilst muttering a barely audible, **_"Die! Die"_**

He continued on what he was about to say, **"Anyway, the elementary branch needs some help with classes this afternoon. Due to numerous staff absence I was wondering if any of you would like to volunteer."**

He failed to notice that the majority of the class has turned purple just at the thought of the demonic children.

Ruka's rabbit, Usagin, held up a sign saying **_"The Seed of Chuckie…" _**whilst in most people's minds they saw an image of the back of a little kid but when he turned around it was a Chuckie look a like with a dagger in his hand…looking like a psycho. _Ooh…the chills. _

Just then…Narumi noticed an eager hand shot up. _Imai?_

"**Imai, are you volunteering?"** Narumi asked, alike the rest of the class, he was also unable to mask his disbelief.

"**No, actually, I am volunteering Mikan to do this."** Mikan threw a dark glare at Hotaru who returned the gesture. **"After all she's so nice that she wouldn't **_dare_**to pass on an opportunity like this."**

"**Is there any problem with that Mikan-chan?" **Narumi smiled at her.

"**Only if Hotaru joins me. She **_loves_**children." **As she faked a sugary sweet smile and raised a quizzical eyebrow at the former, her facial expression spelt out the words to Hotaru, _'I dare you._'

"**That's great!" **Narumi clapped his hands together. Unlike the rest of the class he wasn't able to detect the sarcasm that dripped from every sentence the two girls said about each other. **"Let's go now then, Hotaru-chan, Mikan-chan. Let's not let those adorable kids wait on us. Adieu class."**

And with that, he left the class to mourn for the loss of Hotaru and Mikan; caused by the hands of the demonic children we spoke briefly of._ "Good luck Hotaru, Mikan, you'll need it."_

Once they were outside Narumi continued explaining, **"Most of the faculty caught the flu that has been going round so for now we have merged in elementary class A and B together. Have fun girls." **

The two girls arrived at the classroom with the_ "Class B"_ doorplate.

_Welcome to Hell. _The two thought grudgingly.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Although the words of the dare were spoken purely out of anger, the two are too stubborn to go back on their own words. After all, they both agreed on it and said they can't forfeit, right? They already started on the dares and they are not going to be called a coward by the other.

By the end of lunchtime the two had finished with their duties and came back to the classroom looking like they have been dragged through a bush. On their arrival the class has gathered up and celebrated the fact that they are still alive by popping party poppers and singing**_ "I'm a survivor, I'm a believer…." _**And **_"I will survive…I will survive…"_**

"**Hotaru-chan, Mikan-chan, you did a great job."** The class turned to see Narumi walking through the door. Mikan and Hotaru replied to him by giving him the are-you-being-serious look and the never-in-hell-am-I-doing-that-again-look.

Narumi continued the lesson whilst the two girls went back to their seats. They tidied their uniform up a little and combed through their hair with their fingers so that it wasn't so wild.

They were so busy that they didn't realize the whole class' attention was on them.

"**So…could you two tell us of your experience with the kids?" **Narumi pried on. After all, even though they looked so rough and ragged right now, the kids of the class was as well behaved than the teachers have ever seen; better than any teacher could do. The former Class B was following the footsteps of the old Class B (i.e. Mikan's class) and the past students that had volunteered refused to take on the job ever again. So…how did they manage to pull it off?

The two girls faces immediately turned purple with black lines drawn all over them. Koko who had just read Hotaru's mind about what happened was already bursting into hysterics whilst weaving in a few **"OMG"** and **"That's such a classic"** in between his fits of laughter.

Looking at their unwilling faces Narumi decided to push his luck a little, **"You know, it is a teacher's job to check on your progress…or you might be de-ranked in your star level." **

Threatened by this Hotaru pulled out her invention 0057 grudgingly – The Memory Projector, which allows someone's memories to be projected as a video image to an audience.

Mikan having regained her normal cheerful self smiled at the class, "I'm Mikan and this is Hotaru, we are going to help out with your classes today."

_Instantly mutterings and distant whisperings were heard._

"_Ne, don't you think they look so pretty. I wish I would grow up looking like them." A little girl sighed in happiness. _

_However, some mischievous boys from the class decided to make the two girls life miserable by using their Alice. A bin started making its way to Mikan but it stopped in its track right beside her, a robot popped out of no where to hit the bin against the wall. They turned around to find some ice cubes that were about to hit them, but Mikan immediately converted the power into an Alice stone. _

"_Forgot to say, I have the Alice of nullification and stealing whilst Hotaru has the invention Alice so don't try using your Alices on us or you shall be severely punish. (Grin) Anyone who tries to attack us will have their Alices confiscated until the end of lesson." _

_Mikan said as she threw up the Alice stone that she has just collected in the air and caught it again whilst in the background were some of Hotaru's inventions which consisted of a tanker look-a-like thing, a bulldozer, a giant bazooka and a machine gun. The glint in the two girls eyes did not escape the class and they knew they would regret it if they messed with them. _

"If you need any help just say so, okay?" A smile from both of them assured the class. "Well…let's start."

"_Mikan-one chan, my mother had a little sister yesterday!" A little kid told her as she made herself comfortable on Mikan's lap._

"_Oh really, that's great news!"_

"_Mikan-one chan, how do you get baby sisters?" _

_The little child left Mikan with a bomb. Her mouth was wide opened as she gaped. _

"_I…er…uh…um…where is that Natsume with his perverted mind when you need him?!"_

In class, everyone turned to face Natsume who turned to face the wall so that no one can see the faint blush on his face.

"Well…when you love someone, you would sleep together and voila, you get a baby."

"_So, I have a baby sister because I slept with my mum?"_

"_Er…no…it has to be a boy and girl."_

"_So my brother and I are going to have a baby?"_

"…"

"_Ne-chan?"_

"_Let's just go to sleep." Mikan said as she feigned to yawn. _

"_I want to know how babies are made!" The girl whined and squeezed out her crocodile tears._

"_Er…ok…the boy and girl have to be naked."_

"_So if me and my brother…" Before the girl got any further Mikan decided to cut her off._

"_YOU HAVE TO HAVE SEX!" Mikan shouted out, unaware that she already had more than one audience, in fact the all the occupants of the class seemed to have been listening and crowded around them for quite some time now. _

_A casual arm slung over Mikan's shoulders and as she turned around she was greeted with a familiar figure kneeling down beside her. _

"_What's sex?" A mischievous smile etched across the owner of the grey hair and teal eyes._

"_Yo-chan, you are enjoying this, aren't you?"_

_The ninet-year boy returned the gesture with a broader sly smile, "Yeah, isn't it obvious?"_

_The latter then elbowed the boy hard in the chest causing him to wince. "Ouch…that hurt."_

_The girl then hissed, "You deserved it!"_

_However, their display did not deter her audience asking that one question,_

"_Mikan-ne chan, have **you **had sex?"_

_As Mikan blushed a deep crimson the crowd looked at her with their curious eyes (meanwhile Youchi was having a hysterical fit next to her). The latter hit her head with her hand out of despair. _

In the corner we can see Hotaru with her hair being pulled by a few small kids. Although it is still short, doesn't mean that there is nothing for them to pull out.

_Her eyes flashed, "I would stop that now if I were you," she said as she pulled out her Baka gun and immediately their hands stopped in its track. _

_Then at lunchtime they had to spoon feed the little kids, which is pretty hard because all they do is throw food at each other (immature kids – hypocritical authoress and friends). And you could clearly see the veins popping on both Hotaru and Mikan's head. Some tables away you could see a boy attempting to stick two straws up his nose as an attempt to be a walrus. _

Then after that it was their naptime. But usually, they have to read them a 'bed-time story' first. Hotaru and Mikan sat in an armchair together with the kids circling around them. 

_Mikan started on the first few lines, _

"_I'm nobody's idea of what a whore looks like…" (Actually abstract from the book Call me Elizabeth by Dawn Annanbel"_

_Confused by the content of the book she looked at the title, **"Call me Elizabeth".**_

_She then looked at the introduction at the back of the book. _

'Insurmountable debts. A marriage on the verge of meltdown. Children going without the bare essentials. And no family to turn to for help. In these circumstances, Dawn Annandale answered the job advertisement that would change her life.

Call Me Elizabeth is the true story of how a bright, witty and highly educated woman became a well-paid and successful escort. It is a frank and illuminating insight into the British sex industry - an occupation that has very much left the sex shops for the suburbs. By turns sad, funny, frightening and empowering, Call Me Elizabeth is above all honest and compelling. From Emmanuelle to Pretty Woman, the life of an escort remains deeply fascinating. And though there may be some who will judge the author, many more will understand her situation.

That is her story - decide for yourself." (This is taken from Dawn Annandale's official website).

'_What kind of book do kids-these-days read? I don't think I want to know…'_

Speaking out her queries, she asked, "Don't you think you should choose something more appropriate for your age…like "Animal Farm?"

"_Why? What's wrong with the book?"_

"_What's a whore?"_

"_Um…it's not really something that you people should read. Who chose it anyway?" Mikan and Hotaru decided to completely ignore the second question. _

_A little boy answered, "We couldn't find any books in the classroom so we asked Narumi-sensei and he said that we could borrow the book he is reading at the moment."_

'_That explains a lot' were the only thing in Mikan's and Hotaru's mind right now. _

_Hotaru snatched the book away from Mikan (who was about to dispose of the book that was responsible for polluting the little kids' mind) and continued reading in a monotone voice. _

"_Hotaru, don't you think we should stop, it's a bit inappropriate."_

"_No, because they won't go to sleep if we stop reading and I want to go." She didn't sound guilty at all, as if she is self-righteous._

People in the class sweat-dropped.

All the kids dropped off to sleep (possibly because of Hotaru's monotone voice).

When Narumi came back into class to collect Mikan and Hotaru they were both fast asleep like the other kids in there. He stared at the two angelic-looking faces, looking serenely at peace (yes…even Hotaru, the Queen of Black-mailing). Finding it cruel to wake them up he let them sleep until the end of the high-school lunch break (elementary school's break time is slightly different).

Back into the classroom the people were speechless at the whole ordeal Mikan and Hotaru went through. After a few minutes of silence they all hollered with laughter, amused with the whole thing.

After minutes or even hours to let them calm their nerves (it took so long because it only takes one to guffaw to set the whole class off), Hotaru asked the unimaginable.

"**Where's my pay?"** Hotaru walked up to Narumi and held out her right hand, waiting for Narumi to put money notes on it.

Narumi had question marks floating above his head, **"Pay for what?"**

"**Babysitting. I don't do free labour."**

"**But you volunteered. Volunteering doesn't acquire money."**

"**Correction. When Imai Hotaru volunteers, it does acquire money. Now pay up."**

"…"

"**Otherwise I shall charge you for my laundry bill** _(points to mucky uniform)_**, physical damage **_(points to a almost non-existent scratch on her hand) _**and all the information** _(i.e. class reading)_ **they have contaminated my mind with, threatening to cause damage on my mental health **_(even though she knew about all of these information anyway)_**" **Hotaru completed her speech all in one breath and looked up at Narumi expectanrly.

Silence. Sweat drops.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_**End of Chapter 1**_

At the moment they are just using the dares as a form of revenge on one another but later on they use it to try and help each other to confess…obviously with its twists and turns.

If you like this story then please leave me a review _(wink)_.

But seriously, the book **"Call Me Elizabeth"** is good and I strongly recommend it…if you can take this sort of thing and if you are the right age, of course.

_**Until next time. Alta la vista. Happy New Year soon.**_

_**xxxDazzlesxxx**_


End file.
